If you look carefully at the studio photo in my previous post, you will find a wonderful little book sitting on the shelf. It's a book titled "142 Actors" by Swedish illustrator Ingela P Arrhenius. I got the book from Ingela in April this year after reading about it on her blog. It's a beautiful book with pages after pages of colorful portraits which Ingela captured from a black/white German talent catalogue back in 1933. On each spread, Ingela arranged to have a male and a female facing each other, and some of them look like they are actually having a conversation. For me personally, this book is not only a feast for the eyes, it's a great book to learn about painting techniques as I've never took real painting lessons at school. It is so inspiring to see how she applied strokes, colors, as well as her own interpretation on all the characters and made each of them so unique.

I've planned to blog about the book earlier, but the timing is actually better now, because Ingela told me that she had set up a PayPal account, which should make it easier for her to take orders from international buyers. If you'd like to get a copy for yourself (highly recommend), please contact Ingela.

(All photos taken by Ingela P Arrhenius)

Ingela P Arrhenius is a freelance illustrator based in Stockholm. In addition to her advertising and magazine commissions, she has illustrated children's books, designed several stamp editions and patterns for products such as children's clothing, fabrics and stationery. Ingela lives just south of Stockholm with her husband, two boys and their puppy.